OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) – January 3, 2025: A quiet day in the City of Owensboro. But January 3, 2000, that was a much different scene as a strong, F3 tornado would wreak havoc in Daviess County.
“We had just completed a cabinet meeting,” says Scott Kramer with Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC), “it was 3 o’clock on a Monday afternoon, so we were coming out and then the sirens went off.”
Kramer, who is currently Vice President of Facilities and Executive Initiatives, was the college’s Dean of Students on January 3, 2000, and has vivid memories of that afternoon. “We weren’t in session, so students weren’t here,” recalls Kramer. “So we got all the staff and the faculty that were in the buildings to the basements.”
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Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson lived and worked in the city on that day. “I was at my business when word came down,” says Mayor Watson. He says he took shelter and called his children and grandchildren to see if they needed to take shelter, too. Mayor Watson says he was on the edge of the storm’s path, away from the 180 mph winds the tornado produced.